The Christmas Present

"I bought some Christmas decorations from Wal-Mart," Charly said as I got home from work.

"Really?" I asked skeptically.

"Yup," she said, "Come look."

I followed Charly over into the living room. She was practically glowing with excitement.

"I bought these candles, and these window decorations, and these lights, oh, and look. I bought two kinds of wrapping. One color is for you and the other is for me. What one do you like the most?"

I looked down at the two colors. "I like the silver one," I said.

"Good, I like the white one more," she replied with a grin.

A week later and after Thanksgiving day, Charly and I were in the house. We had aquired a small Christmas tree from Charly's mom and decorated it. The tree looked really good. Charly had hand made a ton of small paper snowflakes, we had borrowed some hand made ornaments, and even made some on a date together. Charly walked over to the tree. She was holding a large box. To this day I'm still not sure what was in it.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's a Christmas gift," She answered.

"Is it for me?" I asked again.

"No silly, it's for both of us." She replied smiling.

At that moment I was struck with the realization that our brilliant plan in having two colors of wrapping paper, one for each of us, was flawed. My face fell and I looked at Charly with an expression of grave concern on my face, "If it's for both of us how are we suppose to wrap it?"

She just laughed at me.

Locking the Door

Tuesday morning Charly got up to get ready for school and found the bathroom door locked from the inside. I have a funny habit of locking doors, almost an obsession with it actually. I guess I locked the door while leaving the bathroom.

We didn't have a key for the door.

"You must have locked the bathroom door," Charly said to me. I was still in bed and was planning on sleeping in just a little because I had been up late the night before working on an assignment.

"Try the little wire," I replied sleepily from the bed.

We have a wire we use to open our front door sometimes. We only have one key but the wire lets us lock the door and then open it no matter who gets home first or who has the key. I could hear Charly fiddling around with the door but she couldn't seem to get it open so I got out of bed and walked over.

"The wire won't open it," She said. I tried it anyway, like most stubborn husbands would. Sure enough, it didn't fit.

I was fully awake now and for some strange reason I was enjoying this ridiculous challenge. I grabbed a screw driver from a kitchen drawer and started taking the door knob off. I had replaced door knobs before so I knew what I was doing. I was able to remove the door knob and then unlock the door. Afterwards I put the knob back on, vowing to never lock the bathroom door like that again.

I think I might have gone back to bed but I don't remember... I felt silly for locking the door but I'm pretty sure Charly was impressed with my amazing door knob hacking skills.

Drive-Thru Reception

This week my cousin Gavin got married in the temple. It was really cool and I was super excited that Charly and I got to drive to Vernal to see it. Out of all of my cousins I probably spent the most time with Gavin growing up.

Well, so on to the story. Charly and I also went to the reception. Before we went we were talking about how long we would be there and I said, "In and out." I mean, Gavin is a really close cousin to me but nobody likes receptions... I'm pretty sure Gavin doesn't anyway.

"I love receptions," Charly said.
"Of course she does." I thought to myself.

You see, my idea of a perfect reception is a drive-thru reception. I tried to get Charly to do this for our wedding but to no avail.

The ideas is that you have three tables... like this
 ___   ___   ___
|      |  |      | |      |

Impressive graphics right? Anyway... The first table will have a picture of you and your spouse... that way you don't have to be there, the second table will have a book for the family and friends to sign, and the last will be a nice big table for everyone to leave the gifts on. Each person will simply drive their car up and stop at each table for each action... It's perfect!

I guess most women don't like the idea though and I'm not sure why... Every guy that I have ever told this too has thought it was brilliant.

Aaaaand back to the original story. Charly and I teased back and forth a little about how long we would stay. We went to the reception and stayed for a little while. It was nice. I was able to visit with some family I hadn't seen in a while. Receptions aren't all that bad I guess. Maybe I'll even learn to like them being around Charly all the time.... I doubt it though.

Two Dates for Me, One Date for Charly

Just kidding. It was really only one date but it was almost two. Here's the story:

"Thanks bishop!" I said as Charly and I walked back towards our apartment. The day hadn't been going so well even with the bishop's help. Charly had bought tickets to an improve show at BYU but we had missed it because our car Toothless had broken down. The bishop had gotten Toothless started, and back to our apartment, but it took quite a while.

"Well that was an interesting date," I said to Charly. I knew she didn't consider it a date and I was just joking when I said it.

"That wasn't a date," She said gloomily. We entered the apartment.

I knew Charly was frustrated because I can always tell. She was mad that she had paid for the tickets and we couldn't go, she was mad that we hadn't really had a date, and she was frustrated with the car.

You have to understand. Dating is REALLY important to Charly. She hates not having a real date on date night. A couple weeks ago I had been sick and so we hadn't gone on a date. We hadn't been on very many "actual" dates in a while. When Charly gets frustrated like this sometimes it just makes me want to leave the room, or just listen to music, or do something where we don't really have contact. I know she isn't mad at me but I don't like to see her frustrated and sometimes, I don't know what to do. I really just wanted to go lay down in bed, and go to sleep.

At that moment I knew that I needed to talk with her though. I don't know if it was the Spirit that told me, but I knew. I didn't want to. I still wanted to go to bed. But in my mind I thought, "Am I going to invest into this relationship or walk away? If I choose to walk away and avoid the tension now, how many other times will that happen?" I walked up to Charly, sat down, faced her, and said, "Talk to me."

She turned to me, lip quivering, and let everything out. She told me all of her frustrations of the day, how she felt about each one, how hard it was for her to not be able to go on an actual date.

I just listened.

Somewhere along the conversation we both ended up crying and hugging each other. It was a very spiritual moment. We both told each other how important the other was to us. I felt so good and I could tell Charly felt better as well. We ended up going to get some ice cream and seeing a movie together after, so we still got to have our date.

This is a very special story for me and the reason I'm sharing it is because I want everyone to know that in every relationship, you have to make a choice of whether or not you are going to invest in that relationship. If that person is your spouse you should always invest, whatever it takes. It might not be what you want to do at the time but you need to do it. I'm not perfect, not by a long shot, but I am 100% invested in my relationship with Charly. I will always choose to invest in her. I know because I chose to now.

First Date and 10 Followers!

We made it! Thank you all so much for following our blog. We really appreciate it.

Charly and I are super excited about sharing the story of our first date with you tomorrow! Stay tuned. Invite your friends and family to follow us as well.

The Loaded Plates

On Saturday, Benjamin and I went to my cousin's baptism. My mom wanted to take us, along with my brother Jon, to Olive Garden for dinner while we were in town. I talked to Ben and Jon about the plan while we ate outside, making sure it was okay. Then I called my mother while the boys both disappeared into the house. 

"Hey mom," I said. "Do you still want to go to Olive Garden?" 

"Can Jon make it?" She asked. 

"Yeah, he says he doesn't have other plans." 

"What time would we be going?" My mom went to bed pretty early. I checked my iPod; it was a little before four. 

"We're leaving in just a minute, and then we can go. Does that work for you?" 

"Yeah, we'll see you in a bit." 

Just as I was hanging up the phone, Ben was coming out of the house, carrying a plate loaded with food. I gave him a look. 

"What?" he asked, popping a strawberry into his mouth. 

I gave him another look. "Did you know we're going to Olive Garden after this?

"Yep," he said, "I remember you saying something about going Olive Garden." He picked up a piece of watermelon and put it in his mouth. I rolled my eyes.

That's when I saw Jon coming towards us, also carrying a plate. It was loaded with chicken salad. 

I sighed. "I give up." 

10 Reasons Why I Fell in Love With Charly

Here are the top 10 reasons why I fell in love with Charly.

1. She has a strong testimony of the gospel.

This is number one because it is the most important to me.

2. She loves me.

This one is also very important. I know Charly loves me because of the way she treats me. She is patient with me when I'm going through one of my hobby phases. She writes me love notes and nice things all the time. She makes me feel like I'm the best guy alive even when I know I still have a ton to learn. I love her for it.

3. She loves children.

This is something we both have in common. We love to be with children. From day one we were always around children. We would both play with them and be silly. I'm usually much sillier than Charly though. We are excited to have our own children some day and I know Charly will be a great mother to them because I've seen her with children.

4. She is adventurous and fun to be around.

It's always an adventure with Ben and Charly... That's our motto. Some of the dates we have been on were the most fun I have ever had. We've sneaked cloths pins on to strangers, volunteered at clothing stores as greeters, put on puppet shows, and went to tons of fun dances.

5. She is a writer and she loves reading.

Yeah, I cheated and put two in here. Reading and writing is something we have in common just like our love for children. We spent lots of hours talking about different books we had read and others that we might read. Charly writes stories and I think she is an amazing writer. I love reading her stories.

6. She always tries to think of others.

I can think of many examples where she has done this but the one that stands out most to me is when she worked so hard to make sure everyone could make it to our wedding. She had to sacrifice some things that she wanted in order to make it possible and I admire that in her.

7. She wants to home-school our kids.

This one is pretty straight forward. I was home-schooled and I loved it. It is something that is important to me and it is to Charly as well.

8. She laughs at me.

I'm really.... goofy. Some people think I'm funny and some people can't figure me out. I love that Charly always laughs at me, even when I'm being ridiculous... and trust me... my jokes are ridiculous.

9. She is patient with me.

I sort of already put this one down up close to the top. Trust me though, sometimes I take a ton of patience. You should just watch me put my shoes on.

10. She is beautiful.

Don't say it's shallow because it's not. Everyone wants to fall in love with someone they find attractive and everyone has their own version of attractive. In my world Charly is the most beautiful girl I have ever met. Sometimes I just stare at her and think how beautiful she is. She usually gets mad at me for staring at her. I think it's cute. My favorite thing about her looks is her eyes.

End

I love Charly so much. These 10 reasons, and many more that I didn't even list, remind me every day of how much I love her. I'm so lucky to have found her and also to still have her.

Adventure wanted.

Being married is great. Serious. You should all try it. Ben and I, though, recently realized that we have become somewhat boring since getting married. We haven't had too many adventures in the last little while. And we love adventures. 

So, Ben and I left our little home in Orem to come to Vernal for a week. We're currently staying with his parents. And upstairs, they have a wonderful little bookshelf of books. Last night, I picked myself a nice little book (the second The Work and the Glory, since I just finished the first one) and was reading upstairs. Ben was off playing some Nintendo games with his younger siblings, giving them some much-missed attention. 

My quiet reading space was disturbed when Benjamin ran into the room that I was reading in, followed by his little sister Hannah. Ben ran to the bed where I was sitting, stopped like he was looking for something, and then ran over to the dresser. There he picked up a folded piece of paper, which he proceeded to stick in my book before closing it. I get pretend-mad at him when he loses my spot in a book; it's an almost-daily occurrence.

He grabbed my hand and led me towards the door, not saying a word to my bewildered questioning. Hannah and Ben were both racing so fast, they were acting like the house was on fire. 

"Ben," I said, before willingly following. "What are we doing?"

He gave me one of his mischievous smiles. "Come on." 

"Ben," I laughed, letting him pull me to the door. "Come on to where?" 

"Come on," he said again. Hannah had disappeared down the stairs, so I followed Ben down the stairs and out the front door, Ben never letting go of my hand. 

It wasn't until we were outside on the porch that I realized what they wanted of me. I saw the rain, coming down in splattered clumps and Caleb already waiting on the tramp. My smile now matched Benjamin's. 

"Oh," was all I said. Hannah joined Caleb, then Ben. I was the last one on the tramp. We jumped and laughed, rain falling down on us. Ben grabbed a ball and we started a game. We had a grand old time of it. Ben's parents even came out and sat on the swing under the porch roof to watch.

Ben and I needed a good little adventure. Vernal fits the bill perfectly.